How We Changed the World

Totally Awesome Picture of the Week 66

“Together we can change the world” she said to me that night. We were watching my favorite show. She knew I didn’t like her to talk to me when it was on. I looked at her in a moment of drawn out suspense. From the sweat beaded above her eyes I knew the fever had returned and so I nodded instead of drawing attention to the absurdity of her words.

When the show ended she was asleep. I got up to get a beer, there were some in the fridge but it has been broken all month so I had to drink it warm. It stuck in my throat and made me burp those deep foul tasting burps of near regurgitation. The news was on and soon I was asleep too.

My ears awoke me to the sudden void that appears at the powering off of a television. I looked over at where she slept but found the spot vacated. She stood near the wall wrapping the unplugged cord around the antenna and didn’t notice I was awake.

“You know there’s a remote for that?” I asked her as my head cleared. She kept winding and didn’t look at me. I wondered what she was doing but didn’t ask because her actions were so certain.

“Now it’s time” she said, standing on one side of the box with her hand in the carrying grip. I noticed she had her walking slippers on and her nice blouse and this year’s pants.

I stood, smoothed my hair, tucked in my shirt and slid on my shoes. Finding my glasses on the table I went and took up the other side. We walked down the stairs, out of the building, and on to the sidewalk. My brain started going and my palms began to sweat. I had to use two hands. I looked over and her thin arm was hardly strained.

At the end of the block a stranger sat on an empty tricycle cart. We got to it and she made to set down the load. I felt my heart speed up and in my panic my fingers slipped loose. My side dropped into the cart. The man said something, handed her some bills and smiled at me. She counted the money and then walked back towards home. Dust from a passing car filled my open mouth. I closed it and found a pool of saliva. The man said something else to me and patted the TV. I spit. The man mounted. My mind raced but I stood still and watched until it was gone.